During November, 2017, I spent some time in Oklahoma. My sister’s left knee was replaced with a titanium joint, so she needed some company during recovery. We watched ballgames together, fed and petted the cats and spent a week doing what sisters do.
Some days, I worked on my laptop – especially during the hours when Kris needed to rest.
A surgery – or any type of trauma – often pleads for extra resting time. We may be surprised by the lack of energy we feel during recovery, after an illness or even as a side effect of grief.
It’s important to listen to our bodies and take the extra time to rest. As we stop all busy-ness, curl up for a nap or just sit and listen to music – we invite healing.
Likewise, during our spiritual journeys. When we’ve been cut by the comments of unkind people, when we’ve been downsized out of a job, when a search for belonging ended in emptiness – we need rest.
When the soul takes a hit and emotional trauma threatens, we need to pay attention and rest. It’s vital to find those places of retreat where we can hear God whisper, spend time getting to know ourselves better and invite healing.
Examples might be:
- Listening to a peaceful concerto
- Coloring a new page with unusual swirls and designs
- Journaling about whatever has forced the need to rest
- Savoring a cup of hot chocolate while watching the first snowflakes fall
- Just sitting and intentionally doing nothing
When we give our souls time to heal, we find our way back to wholeness. Rest fosters hope and reminds us how much the inner life is connected to the outer persona.
Let’s make 2018 a hope-filled year and determine to find more time for healing rest.
©2018 RJ Thesman – All Rights Reserved
If you’d like to start the new year with a good book, check out “Hope Shines.”
Oh thank you so much for sharing this…how beautiful and true. No need for details except that rest and waiting can be painful but utterly necessary. We can’t control others or circumstances.
So very true! Rest and waiting can be painful. No pain – no gain.
A worthy reminder. Even our creator modeled it for us, though he never wearies.
True. Resting in Him – a worthy goal.
I needed this post today. So true and so hard to do! The world says you are lazy to rest and should be doing something all the time. I feel guilty resting. Thank you for the reminder.
Yes – we need to rethink what our culture says about rest. Even Jesus rowed across the lake to get away from the masses and find some time to rest.